Honda does iT
wiTH moTors
To spare
MOTOGP >>> nEWs
Marc Marquez’s domination of MotoGP racing has been put in
even sharper focus, with the news that he finished the 2014 season
with mileage to spare.
Like all riders in the ‘Factory ’ category Marquez was restricted
to using no more than five engines during the year. According
to motogp.com Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa finished
the season having used “four or five” engines, but both men had
plenty of life left in the motors they raced at Valencia.
As if to underline what an amazing job Honda engineers have
done engineering life into their V4s, the other Factory class Hondas
performed even better. LCR Honda rider stefan Bradl and Gresini’s
Alvaro Bautista ended the season with miles to spare on their fifth
engines, in spite of each suffering an engine failure during the year
that removed one motor from their inventory.
similarly, Yamaha’s riders were well served by their allocations.
Jorge Lorenzo’s fifth M1 engine had approximately three-quarters
of its expected life yet to run when the final chequered flag of 2014
fell in spain.
Things were far less straightforward in the ‘Open’ class. Both
Nicky Hayden and scott Redding were on their 11th of 12th
engines in Valencia, while Hiroshi Aoyama was on his 12th and final
motor. On the Yamaha side, Aleix espargaro used his ninth and 10th
engine in his NGM Forward Racing M1 at Valencia.
The Ducati side of the equation is far more complex. Because
of different riders running different bikes during the season, some
engines could not be used in different frames, meaning that
both Andreas, Dovizioso and Iannone, had all 12 motors in use
throughout the season, though not all of those engines ‘went the
distance’ on their usage. Meanwhile Cal Crutchlow, who spent the
whole season on the GP14 Ducati while the two Andreas got to try
out ‘14.1s’ and ‘14.2s’, raced on nine engines in the 18 races.
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GPWEEK.com // 17
GPWEEK.com //
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